The Justice Avengers
by JWeaver95
Summary: Taking place in the real world, OUR world, 23 year old James Weaver(me), finds himself having somehow acquired the powers of Superman. Not only that, but real world threats are becoming too much for the police and military to handle. As more threats arise and grow in seriousness and severity, James's friends also begin inexplicably gaining the powers of other DC/Marvel superheros.
1. Chapter 1

**The Justice Avengers**

 **Chapter 1: Origin**

It all started about six months ago. I didn't think anything of it of course and it wasn't even noticeable at first. At the time I was 5'7", roughly 250lbs. I used to fluctuate between that and 260lbs, depending on how active I was during the week going to and from work as well as at work itself. I began to notice that my pants weren't fitting like they normally did. They were always stretchy and comfortable and had to be pulled up because of the way they shifted when I'd have my undershirt and work shirt tucked into them. But eventually it was getting to the point where I was having to lightly keep hold of them by the waistband when moving, which became increasingly annoying really fast.

Eventually I did the logical thing and bought smaller pants and was surprised to find out that I didn't have to buy as big a pair as I normally do. I don't buy pants or clothes all that often, but still, I was surprised nonetheless. I shrugged it off and went with the smaller pants, but made a note to step on the scale the next work morning. I did and was surprised to find out that I wasn't my normal lowest of 250lbs anymore. I was well below that in fact. My scale isn't digital, as it's more old school with a needle, but after stepping on and off several times, making sure and confirming several times, the scale sure enough read 230lbs instead.

I hadn't been that weight in several years, having gained the twenty I've now inexplicably seemed to have lost back when I had my very first job that was in fast food naturally. I was happy to say that least, but wasn't sure what had caused this, but decided not to question my seemingly good fortune. My outside of work shirts and pants were all baggy on me, but I didn't really mind. I'd find the time to buy smaller shirts here and there, but it was the work pants that I needed the most. My work shirt and understand stayed the same size, as they were both a little on the snug side to begin with, so they fit just fine now, or at least a good bit better than they used to.

Things continued on like normal, or at least as normal as they could be considered to be and a couple more months passed. I had to buy new, smaller work pants and finally had to downside my work shirt, which proved a huge hassle since I only had two to begin with. I traded them in to try and make things easier. It's always hard to get different sized shirts where I work. It's just the way things work there. I found myself weighing myself again only to be met with an even lower number. I was a mere 200 pounds by then, having lost a whopping 30lbs in a few months compared to the previous twenty I had lost beforehand. The only thing that truly fit me properly by that point was my work clothes. I didn't have the time or patience to keeping buying smaller clothes, so I opted to wear my baggy clothes since all I did was work and go home.

Very rarely do I ever go out and when I did, I always made sure to wear one of the few proper fitting cheap shirts I allowed myself to buy, wearing the baggy, ill-fitting shirts at home. Most of my extra fat was disappearing, with only a small amount remaining in the form of a pot belly, where most of my weight was situated. I noticed that my face had trimmed down tremendously, something I was overjoyed at. Not to mention that I was feeling a whole lot better about myself and my body felt a lot stronger. I could feel it inside of me. I still wasn't worried or that concerned about my inexplicable weight loss, as I hadn't been doing anything different or changing any of my eating or physical habits. But my body was slowly beginning to melt away the rest of the body fat and tone up, build muscle even.

A few more months passed and I lost yet another 30lbs, bringing me down to 170lbs. By this point, most of the fat had disappeared from my body and it soon began to add on muscle instead. My biceps slowly but surely grew. My flat stomach flattened further, toned out and soon I had viciously defined six pack of abs. What some people work for years on to get, I somehow managed to achieve within a few months. I couldn't explain it back then, but I didn't complain. It was almost like a dream come true. Eventually, the changes all stopped, the weight loss, the muscle gain, all of it. At least those changes did.

My body felt completely different by this point. I felt so much stronger, faster, not to mention WAY more confident in myself and in my body. That's when the weird things started happening. One of the first incidents I can remember happening was at work. Hell, most of them were at work thankfully, now that I think back on it. Anyways, I was at work and had a closed receipt in my hand, I'm a waiter. One moment the receipt was fine and the next, it had two little holes burning through it. I quickly dashed to the nearest sink with speed I didn't even know I had and quickly ran the receipt under the water. Thankfully I was able to easily print out another copy and through the ruined one away. I wasn't sure what to think about that incident.

It wasn't the first time something like that would happen. Another incident at work occurred when one of my co-workers, who was an in shape guy himself, needed my help lifting something. When I went over to help lift it up, I found myself hefting the whole thing up faster than my co-worker anticipated. When he cried out in alarm, asking if I was okay, I told him that I was. I asked him why he needed help moving what I had and that I could easily lift it. He said that no matter how hard he tried, it was just too heavy for him to lift, right outside the limits of his strength. I didn't believe him and when he asked me how I was able to lift something so seemingly heavy, I chuckled and jokingly told him that I had been hitting the weights.

That wasn't the case at all. As I said earlier, despite these changes to my body, I hadn't deviated from my normal habits of any kind. It's at this point that I really began to consider that something was happening to me; something definitely out of the ordinary. Another incident I can think of occurred while I was actually on my way to work. See, I don't have a car, but since I work up on top of a mountain, the restaurant I work in is located on top of said mountain inside of a mountain lodge hotel, I take a van to and from work.

BUT, I have to get up every morning I work at 6am and walk two miles from my apartment TO the van. It doesn't pick me up like an Uber or bus would. Anyways, one morning as I was walking, I decided to test my stamina and run part of the way. Once I got onto the main road, I took off. I started out slow, a nice little jog, before steadily increasing my speed. Now normally it used to take me the better part of half an hour to go from my apartment to the van. But once I started running, I arrived at the van in five minutes. It was all a blur, but one moment I was on one side of town, I live in a small town, and the next thing I knew, I was halting to a stop so that I didn't run past where the van was. When I stopped to try and catch my breath, I realized that my heart wasn't even beating fast from having sprinted the two mile distance.

Those were the three main incidents that stick out in my mind on all of those separate occasions, but the ONE thing that sticks out in my mind the most is what happened NEXT. I woke up one day like normal, as I had to work. The first thing I do is put on my glasses. Something felt off as I did, but I couldn't tell what it was since it was still dark in my room and I hadn't turned on the ceiling light. As I did, after a few seconds I was able to easily discern what was wrong. I couldn't see.

I wasn't blind, of course not. No, I just couldn't see a damn thing while wearing my glasses. Basically I could see about as well if I didn't have them on. A little worse even. I went to the bathroom, slipping them on and off as I looked at myself in the mirror, carefully observing how my reflection went from blurry to perfect with and without the glasses. It's at this point that I had to accept that something was going on with me; fully well and truly. My body has completely changed itself.

I'd gone from overweight and unfit to totally ripped and in shape. Despite my beard, my jawline was still clearly defined. My biceps were impressive as was my six pack of abs. My shoulders rippled with muscle and my legs, calves, thighs and what not looked like I hadn't skipped leg day not once. Not having time stick around, I got ready for work and made my way to the van. I walked, but I didn't work up a sweat from the heat and morning humidity. In fact, I couldn't remember the last time I had since all these changes have happened. I contemplated all of them as I took my time, forcing myself to take my previous time of half an hour to get to the van to allow myself some time to think.

I decided that on my next day off, I'd test myself as well as the hypothesis that had formed in my mind. Sure enough, on my next day off, I did as I had told myself I would. Heading to a secluded field at the edge of some woods, I stood ready. Taking a deep breath even though I didn't really need it, I took off away from the edge of the woods, heading for the opposite end of the field. It was a big field, stretching for a couple dozen acres, well away from the road. That was the direction I was headed in, taking the most direct path.

I reached the road easily within seconds, but I didn't stop. I whipped myself around, heading back for the spot I started at, reaching it even faster than I did the road when I started. I slid to halt, kicking up grass and dirt, but I wasn't even out of breath. Not even in the slightest. I touched my forehead and not even a bit of dampness was there to indicate any kind of sweat. It was like I wasn't even doing anything. Not wanting to stop, I quickly faced the first tree in my line of sight and concentrated. It didn't take long and before I knew it, the spot I focused on began smoking until it caught fire and began flaming up. I shouted in triumph, not believing I had been able to succeed. I pranced over and held out a hand to the flame as it began licking at more of the wood on the tree. If left unchecked, it would soon engulf the tree and set fire to the grass of the field and the rest of the trees in the woods.

The flames heat didn't register to me at all. I couldn't feel it. Believe me, it was there, but it didn't harm me. I freely touched where the flames were and felt no pain whatsoever. I withdrew my hand and examined it from all sides, turning it this way and that. I felt it with my other hand. It wasn't even warm. My attention is torn away as more of the flame begins to engulf the bulk of the bark of the tree. Having a sudden though, I took a deep breath and blew hard. A torrent of small gale force winds erupted from my mouth, quickly and easily extinguishing the flames.

All that was left was the burned bark. I felt sorry for having done that to the tree, but I wanted to test out these new powers that I seem to have. So far I've got speed, stamina, invulnerability. Then I remembered something else. With a huge smile on my face, I grabbed the tree, my fingers sinking into the bark and cracking through it and I heaved upwards. I easily ripped the tree out of the ground and almost fell flat on my ass, having stumbled backwards to regain my footing. I was taken by complete surprise by how easily I was able to uproot this rather decent sized tree.

I know this is a rather horrible analogy, but picking up this tree and literally ripping it out of the ground to me is the equivalent of a normal human being easily unplugging something from the wall. Not wanting to stop my string of tests, I take a few steps back, steady myself and hurl the tree in the direction of the woods with all my strength. It goes sailing well out of sight of any normal human range, but another thing I discover is just how greatly my vision has improved. Not only do I not need corrective lenses anymore, but I can see farther than any other person on earth. I've got telescopic vision it would seem, not to mention microscopic vision, as evidenced by the ant hill I can clearly see a mile away as it was lying on the ground looking at it with a magnifying glass.

I've got a huge smile on my face this entire time, not knowing what to do with myself or these gifts I've somehow been given. I decide that it's time for one last test. So far, only one thing remains to prove my own hypothesis true. Turning parallel to the woods and field, I inhale a deep breath of fresh air before tensing all the muscles in my legs and then leap into the air. The rush I feel as I take off into the air is amazing. The wind is rapidly rushing by me as I sail upwards and then begin my decent. I allow myself to land, creating a small crater in the ground. I don't have any problem steadying myself as I turn around to see how far I've come.

I'm not that good at measuring distance, but I'd say I've gone an eight of a mile easily. Yelling triumphantly I jump up into the air again, leaping the same distance or so every time, making my way across the countryside. Eventually, I've built up enough speed and momentum that on my last jump, once I reach my peak, I thrust my airs upwards and continue upwards into the sky with a renewed rush of speed. My voice is lost to the wind as I realize that I've finally managed to fly. It's a lot harder than it looks, but I do my best to manage.

All to soon though I lose myself in the feeling in this ultimate and new found freedom I've gained and lose my concentration, crashing back down into the earth, leaving a few carters in my wake as I bounce and skid across the ground. The last crater I make is about as deep as I am tall and I find myself climbing out of it, covered in dirt, dust and rocks. These clothes are definitely going to have to be washed when I get home. I shake my head and check to make sure I'm okay and much to my happiness, there's not a scratch on me and I feel more alive than ever.

That day was just under a month ago. That very same day, I ran all the way home, literally and ordered myself a Man of Steel costume. Not those cheap, store bought Haloween costumes. I'm talking about the high end, fully functioning, grade A material Man of Steel cosplay level costume. Like the closest wearable thing you could get to the actual suit that Henry Cavill himself wore in the movie. It's a nice dark blue, with a deep, flowing red cape with matching boots. The symbol is a matching shade of red as well, but instead of the inside of the super shield being yellow, it's the same shade of blue as the rest of my suit.

Consider this suit to be my Mark I Superman Suit. Eventually, I'll upgrade to the red and yellow Superman symbol suit that Cavill wore in the first movie. From there I'll upgrade to the BVS(Batman vs. Superman) suit and from the JL(Justice League) one. But for my crime fighting debut, I'm going with this, what I consider to be the very first concept for the Man of Steel suit.

Today is my day off from work and I'm meeting up with my big sister Cierra. She's not ACTUALLY my sister, but we've got that strong bond where we're so close to one another that we're like brother and sister. We might as well be related to each other, so we affectionately refer to each other as the other's adopted sibling. She's older than me by a few years, having just turned 28 on September 19th, 2018. I'm pretty much just dropping by her house and hanging out for as long as possible while her kids are at all.

She's got a boyfriend named Stephen who doesn't like me very much, but I don't really care what he has to say or thinks about me. Ever since I got my powers, it caused me much to my happiness to care even less about all of that nonsense. I didn't even think that was possible. Cierra has four kids of varying ages but I shan't be sharing their names for obvious reasons. Having since arrived at her house, I make my way up the stairs and onto the porch, knocking firmly, but gently on the door as well.

The last thing I need is to send her door flying by knocking too hard. I've gotten pretty good at managing my strength ever since I truly started wearing the "S", but I've still got some work left to do on it. That's one of the reasons why I'm visiting my big sister. I'm not merely here for a social visit. I'm here to reveal to her my single biggest secret now. The one thing you need to know about her and I is that there are no secrets between the two of us. We each know things about the other that even our own families don't know about us. That's how close we are to one another.

It's not long before I hear steps on the other side, though I have the ability to hear anything on the planet if I so choose to and the door opens to reveal her. About an inch shorter than me at 5'6" with long, straight brown hair and a kind face with her eyes showing through a black pair of glasses sort of similar to mine. Yes, I still wear my glasses. I merely replaced the prescription lenses with clear ones so that I can wear them when I'm not flying around and saving kittens from being trapped in trees.

"Hey big sis!" I greet her happily as she pulls me in for a hug.

"Hey little bro!" She greets back just as enthusiastically. "Come on in," she says, inviting me in. I cross over the threshold and shut the door behind me, admiring her new home. She just moved into this house only a couple of months ago and this is the first time I've ever been inside of it.

"Nice place ya got here."

"Thank you. I love it and so does the rest of the family. Feel free to make yourself at home bro," she says, plopping down on one of the couch cushions in the living room.

"Thank you. I think I will," I thank her, plopping down on the adjacent cushion next to her, indeed making myself comfortable before deciding to speak. "So as I told you in my text, there's something I wanted to talk to you about aside from just hanging out when I came over."

"Uh huh," she says not unkindly. "Go on." She politely gestures for me to continue.

I take a deep breath before continuing. "Okay, so you've seen all the news about that real life Superman making its rounds all over tv and social media right?" I ask. She nods, not speaking so that I can instead, so I continue. "Well to make a long story short, too late, it's me. I'm the Superman in the news." Silence follows after my sudden revelation and I'm honestly not sure what to do now. Just as I'm about to ask Cierra what she thinks, she speaks.

"That's what you wanted to tell me in person? You could've just told me over the phone or through texts or something," she tells me. "Besides, I already knew," she confesses.

"Wait, you already knew?" I ask.

"Of course I already knew you goober. How else would you explain to anyone how you managed to go from what you were before to what you are now? Not to mention that you're not fooling anyone with those glasses. Then again you do seem to be fooling everyone when you wear your old glasses and when you're Superman, but you're definitely not fooling me!" She gives me a kind smile.

I return the smile. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You always were the smartest out of the two of us."

"What're you talking about?" She fake scoffs. "I still am."

"Nu uh. You WERE. Thank to my new super intelligence, I'm the smarter one now," I tease, tapping my head in the process.

"Shut up, you are not. You may be super strong and bullet proof, but there's no way in hell you're smarter than me," she challenges me.

"Am I so to," I further tease.

"I will literally fucking fight you if you claim that you're smarter than me one more time LITTLE brother. I don't give a fuck if you ARE super strong and bullet proof."

"Alright fine," I confess, giving in. "So I'm not the smartest and you still are. But I could for sure beat you in an arm wrestling match."

"Pfft. You could be several thousand of me in an arm wrestling match, so just shut up." We both have huge smiles on our faces.

"So…what gave me away?" I ask curiously.

"What?" she asks, not understanding what I'm getting at.

"Like when did you figure out that it was me and not someone else?" I ask again.

"Oh, well that was easy. The first time I saw you on the tv I was just like, 'Yup. That's James. No doubt about it.'"

"Huh, interesting. That was like a month ago Cierra. Before that there were only the amateur videos of me swooping in and saving the day. I tried saving people as fast as possible to avoid the cameras, but I knew eventually someone would get a good picture or video," I muse.

"Well someone ended up getting both a rather good video AND picture of you just floating about after you saved that bus full of children," she points out.

"Hey, in my defense I wanted to stick around and make sure everyone was okay. I do that with everyone I've saved up to this point, but the busload of children was on a whole other level. Some of them were traumatized. Hell, most if not all of them were in some way, shape or form. It did them good to meet the person who saved them and to tell them that everything was okay now." I'm silent for a moment, replaying the whole thing in my head from start to finish.

"Well either way, I'm proud of you bubba," Cierra says, placing a hand on one of mine. "If the world was going to finally find out about you and that you were really out there, you couldn't have picked a better thing to do."

I smile. "Thanks sis. I appreciate it. I love you."

"I love you to." We pull each other in for another hug, holding it for a bit, enjoying the moment and each other's company, the revelation not having been as big a deal as I had made it out to be in my head, but also bringing us closer together.

"So, now that that's how out of the way, how about we down to really hanging out?" I ask enthusiastically.

"How about a Harry Potter movie marathon and a shit load of junk food?" She suggests just as enthusiastically.

"Sounds like a plan to me. I wouldn't have it any other way."


	2. Chapter 2

**The Justice Avengers**

 **Chapter 2: A Day in The Life**

I get up roughly at 6:00am on the days that I'm scheduled to work. I tend to work at least five days a week, with two days off somewhere in between. For the past several months, my days off have thankfully been together, namely on Thursdays and Fridays, towards the end of the week. I'm not much of a morning person, but working the morning shift at work helps to get me going. I'm not big on breakfast in the mornings either. Not that I really need to eat anymore given my powers, but old habits die hard!

Since I don't have walk anymore to the van, I fly to work instead. At first, I would just use my speed to zip on down to where the van is and ride the van to keep up appearances so to speak, but that got old real fast. I realized how much time I was wasting pretending to have to rely on the van like I used to before I was blessed with these amazing superpowers.

So now whenever I leave for work, I just fly straight there. My shift doesn't start until 8am. Why get up at six then when I could just wake up a few minutes before, get speed dressed and zip on up the mountain to work? That's a good question actually. I use the time I have before work to patrol instead. I try not to go too far out of my way, especially as it gets closer and closer to the time I have to clock in.

Not riding the van anymore and having no vehicle has raised a few questions at work, but I try to brush them off whenever possible. When I'm done patrolling, I head to work and clock in. I've nearly been late and HAVE been late a few times, but it comes with the job. Once I'm at work, that's pretty much it. I don't do any superhero-ing when I'm at work. Well, not any major superhero-ing at least. I'll do small things here and there when people aren't looking. I'll just leave that to your imagination.

If something happens while I'm at work, I try not to zip off. It's difficult to do so anyways, what with being a waiter and all. I only get two fifteen minute breaks max and I normally only take one because most of the time I end up clocking out early; and whenever I clock out early, that's extra time for me to go out and help anyone who needs it. I make up for my lack of superhero-ing during work when I get off of work. If I need to run any errands, I'll do that first, because there's no telling how late I'll be out doing my thing.

Once any and all errands or done that I haven't already had the chance to take care off, I change into my *ahem* "other" uniform and take to the skies. By this point, I'm able to go anywhere in the world I want to or am needed. I'm never short of things to do or crime to stop. Some days it's just petty crime along with some bank robberies or something like that. Other days it's much different with either higher end crimes or natural disasters. All in all though, it's actually pretty fun; being the hero that is.

Come on, you can't tell me that if you had the powers of Superman that you wouldn't enjoy being a hero to. Speaking of which, that's what the world knows me as if I haven't mentioned it before. I'm this worlds Superman. People call me the real life Superman. When word first got out, people didn't believe it. A lot of people wanted to believe it and even more scoffed at the idea that such a person or being could actually exist.

Eventually I made it on the news without even trying. If I can recall correctly, it was my help during the horrendous California wildfires that did me in. I had been flying around for an hour or so and nothing really caught my attention. It was a slow day, alright? I had debated on whether or not to call it early and head on home to relax when I remembered all the shit that was going down with those fires in California. So I decided to fly there to see if I could help as discreetly as possible.

I decided to try the direct approach so to speak, by fighting the wildfires themselves. I did as much as I could, but I took my time. At that moment, the fires had my complete attention. I guess you could say I blew the shit out of those wildfire flames. Blew em' REAL hard and proper like. I used my freeze breath obviously. It's not like I froze the top layer of a lake, picked it up, carried it to where I needed it and dropped it on a large concentrated area of the fire. Don't be silly!

My freeze breath was just about all I could do to put out the fires. There was no point in starting any backfires in the hopes that they would snuff each other out. The fires were too wild, no pun intended and the wind was a major contributing factor to the continuation of its deadly spread. It still is. I fought and put out as many fires as I could, but even I can't fight a fire that's burning over a collective 1.8 million acres.

I tried putting the fires out with a bunch of dirt, but using my freeze breath was less of a hassle. Not to mention I could sort of keep a birds-eye-view of where I was. I'm not sure how much of the fire I put out, but it was honestly probably more than what had been put out total by everyone else up to this point, as sad as that sounds.

I had made a point of sticking to the more secluded areas of the forest wildfires, away from people and the firefighters fighting the fires that were closer to peoples home. But somehow I managed to fight my way towards the outskirts of the forest I was in and happened upon a local town. Trying to keep a low profile, I did a little reconnaissance between flying and staying on the ground. I mostly listened in on the conversations and comings and goings of the evacuations.

I stuck around for a short while merely observing and was about to take off and try and fight some more of the fire, when one of the houses on the other side of the small town caught fire. While I had been fighting the fire from my end, I had failed to notice that the reason these people seemed in more of a hurry than others to get out and to safety is because the fires had them blocked on three out of four sides. That one way out wasn't very big and was slowing a lot of people down. Hesitant as to whether or not I should help, fate decided otherwise. A huge gust of wind surged through, more so that the regular wind speed had been up to that point, which caused the one house that had caught fire to become more engulfed and at a rather alarming rate.

That decided it for me. I was done keeping a low profile. I took off into the sky, reaching the house on the other side of the town within seconds. Even with my super speed, the town is a small one as I said before. I don't hesitate, flying straight through a closed window, shattering the glass to pieces. The fire is spreading faster than even I thought. Using my x-ray vision, literally every room is filled with flames and so much smoke.

There's an entire family trapped inside, some in different parts than others. The parents are in the room next to me. I bust the door down; both adults crouched on the ground, trying to breath in as much non-smoky air as possible.

"It's okay! I'm here to help!" I reassure them. "I'm going to get you and the rest of your family out of here. The reason they hadn't gotten out is because the fire was blocking there exit and they're two stories up from the ground. Turning to face the direction I came, I use my freeze breath to put out the fire in the immediate area. "Come on, follow me!" I urge the couple as I make my way out of there master bedroom.

I have to fly them down the stairs since they're engulfed in flames, as is the front door. I bust it down, getting them to safety. "Our kids are still in there!" The mother frantically yells as the firefighters hold her back from going back into the house.

"Don't worry ma'am! I'll get them out." With that, I dash back into the house. They're trapped in the basement, which is one of the deadliest places to get trapped during a fire. The house is already beginning to creak and groan, the fire eating away at it. It's not going to stay up for much longer. The children are a little girl and her teenage brother. "I'm going to get you guys out of here, don't worry," I quickly reassure them. The little girl is in tears and the teenage boy is trying to be strong for his little sister, but he's struggling to keep himself composed.

I grab the both of them, one in each arm. The house is beginning to collapse. "Keep your heads down!" I order before going straight up, bursting through the ground floor, through the second floor, then finally out and up the roof in a blur of red and blue. Not a moment too soon either, the house collapsing not a second after I cleared it when I sailed through the roof. I stay in the air there for a second to see if the fire from the house will spread out any further, but the house took care of most of it, aside from a few little pocket fires and burning remains of it.

I can hear the mother screaming bloody murder, thinking I didn't get her kids out in time. To be fair, nobody was probably thinking to look up, so it's not like they would've seen me come up and out through the roof anyways. Seldom people ever think to look up if any at all. I slowly descend with both kids still in my arms, landing gracefully and well away from the smoldering remains of their former home.

"Oh my God, my babies!" The mother shouts with an air of relief that even I can feel. The two kids run into their mothers embrace, the father soon joining, all of them crying tears of joy. I can't help but smile as I walk over.

"Are all of you alright?" I ask, wanting to make sure that none of them need to be flown to the nearest operating hospital.

"We are now, thanks to you," the father says, reaching out to firmly shake my hand. "If you hadn't come along, neither me nor my family would've survived. Thank you," he adds.

"Just doing my job sir," I simply say after shaking his hand, still smiling.

"Mommy, daddy! That Superman guy saved us!" The little girl exclaims, pointing at me with awe and amazement in her eyes.

"Thank you for saving our children!" The wife wraps me in a hug, still crying. I hesitantly put my arms around her, returning the hug.

"You're welcome ma'am. I'm just glad I was able to help," I state.

"You did more than help. You saved all of us," she protests, still holding onto me in a half hug. The horrible reality of what could've been is still evident in her eyes.

"All in a day's work I suppose," I shrug. I'm not used to being thanked for doing this. Not since I started anyways.

"Did you guys see that? That guy saved that family from there burning home!" A firefighter shouted, pointing at me as he walked over.

"I saw it!" Another firefighter exclaimed, backing up his colleague. "He saved that family right before the house collapsed in on itself. It was amazing!"

"I saw it to!" A random person chimed in, a small crowd beginning to gather around me. _Meow shit_ , I think to myself.

"Did he really save that family? How did he do that? He's dressed up like Superman!" Were just a few of the things I heard as the crowd grew larger, a healthy mix of evacuating people and the firefighters sent to combat these horrid wildfires. "Nah man, he's got the Superman logo, but he's not wearing any underwear on the outside of his costume. He's got a full on beard and mustache to. Superman doesn't have that!" I raise an eyebrow at those comments, but say nothing.

The next little while is filled with everyone coming up to shake my hand, thanking me for saving that family from an untimely, fiery death. I decided to humor them all and to allow them to give thanks. Not because I need it, but because they do. Eventually, a news van and crew arrive on site, quickly setting up shop. Oh terrific…

"Excuse me, sir!" The newswoman calls out to be, rushing over as fast as she can in her high heels. Not the best kind of footwear given the environment we're in. But she's dressed properly for her kind of work, so you can't really blame her. "Would you mind if I interviewed you about what's happened here?" She asks, not unkindly. She's polite enough and not at all intrusive or invasive like some field reporters can be.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," I answer and she gives me a huge smile as a result. It really can't hurt. I was eventually going to be discovered anyways. Nobody can hide forever when they do something like this and given what I can do, it's going to be big news. I'd rather give a small interview myself rather than someone snap a picture or video, the find it on the news with a steady flow of assumptions being made at my expense.

"Thank you!" She thanks me enthusiastically, having her crew adjust and get a nice little setup ready. She has someone help her with her makeup while she's on the phone with what is presumably the news studio she works for. Listening in would be rude and the temptation is almost too strong to resist. But I don't give in. "Yeah, one of the houses caught fire and a family was trapped inside," she says over the phone. "Look, I KNOW something like that doesn't sound appealing give the entirety of the wild fires, but I've got the scoop of the year right here!" She protests. "Just let me do a live interview with the man who saved the family and I promise you won't be disappointed. Just give me a few minutes of air time and you won't regret it. Five minutes top. Thanks!" She hangs up, giving me an even bigger smile. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I say, folding my arms and returning the smile, though it's nowhere near as big as hers.

"So tell us, how did you manage to save the family inside their burning home?" The female field reporter asks me after she had done her little intro, holding the microphone towards me so that my answer can be heard and recorded clearly.

"Well it's kind of a long story. See I was out deep in the forest, fighting the wild fire flames out there over in that direction." I point and the cameraman follows before centering back on me and the reporter. "I ended up making my way over here and when I saw the town, I stopped and observed a bit. I was just about to fly off and fight some more of the fire when the house caught fire really quickly. I decided that I couldn't just stand by when I knew I had the power to easily save that family," I answer.

"Very interesting," she responds. "So what exactly did you do?" She clearly wants me to be more specific, so I tell her all about how I rescued the family to the best of my descriptive abilities. "We all can't help but notice your outfit. Is this your first time doing this, saving someone?"

"Uh no, it is not."

"So how long have you been saving people?" She questions me curiously.

"Several months now," I answer without hesitation.

"And you've only just now decided to reveal yourself to the world," she guesses.

I shrug. "More or less ma'am," I say.

"Why now of all times?"

"I'm afraid I don't really have a reason why. I mean to quote Emma Watson, 'If not me? Who? If not now? When?'" Nailed it.

"I see. So do you plan on continuing to do this? Saving people and being a hero?"

"Of course I do!" I say, perking up a bit at having to answer that kind of question. I give her and the camera a little smile, my arms no longer folded.

"Okay, last question. What're we supposed to call you? Who are you?" She finally asks.

"Well I can't exactly give you my secret identity because that's not how things work." The reporter, the cameraman and the crowd of people around us all have a good laugh. I let it die down.

"Seriously though, who are you and what do we call you?" The reporter repeats.

"That's easy. It's like everyone here has been saying. I'm Superman. I've got the costume, the powers and I wear the S on my chest. I'm the real life Superman!"

"You heard it here first folks, LIVE. For the first time in history, we have a real life superhero that exists in our own world." She does her little outro and when the cameraman cuts the feed, she turns towards me again, shaking my hand. "Hey thanks again for doing this interview. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem." I chuckle. "One of the reasons I agreed to do it is because it was live, which means you couldn't record what I said and cut the parts out you didn't want to make it the way you wanted," I tease. Everyone got to see the raw, unfiltered interview in real time, which is always preferable to pre-taped interviews. Well, most of the time anyways.

"True enough. Say, if you ever need anyone to do something like this again, hit me up. Don't even hesitate. Here's my card," she says, handing me it.

"Right, thanks," I say before slipping the card into an invisible pocket into my suit. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get going. Places to go, people save and all that." With that, I float up into the sky before taking off at super speed. I think I've done enough for now and can probably call it a day.

As I make my way home, I stop a handful of petty crimes here and there, people already beginning to recognize me from the live interview earlier. It's started trending on social media and all over the world. Eventually, I make it home later that night without further incident, quietly sneaking into my apartment, showering and changing into my pajamas.

"Phew, what a day," I say to myself. I turn on my TV and pull up the interview I did earlier, watching it with interest. "Well it's not perfect, but it's a start. Just another day in the life of me."


End file.
